Locker construction and latch mechanism



Sept. 27, 1938. J. F. SCHAEFER LOCKER CONSTRUCTION AND LATCH MECHANISMFiled Jan. 14, 1936 INVENTOR. JOSEPH F. SCHHEFEI? ATTORNEY PatentedSept. 27, 1938 UNITED STATES LOCKER CONSTRUCTION AND LATCH LIECHANISMJoseph F. Schaefer, ClevelandHeiglits, Ohio, assignor to The InteriorSteel Equipment Company,'Cleveland, Ohio, acorporation of O-hioApplication January 14, 153 6, Serial No. 59,079

3 Claims.

..This invention relates. to latching mechanism especially adapted foruse in connection with clothes lockers and cabinets of various kinds,al-

though the invention is also capable of wider application for latchingdoors and the like.

It is'one of the objects of the invention to provide a relatively simplelatching mechanism that will be comparatively inexpensive tomanufacture, efiicient in operation, durable, and having the advantagesof more expensive latching mechanisms now on-the market.

A further object of the invention is to provide a latching mechanism ofthe kind above referred to, that will be especially adapted for use incombination with an improved design of door and door jamb for clotheslockers and other types of cabinets, and which will provide aconstruction that is without projecting parts on which clothing mightcatch in being placed in or removed from the locker, and in which thelatching mechanism is so concealed and arranged that it will be verydifiicult to unlatch the door when locked.

Other objects of the invention and the features of novelty will beapparent from the following description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawing in which several types of latching mechanism,embodying my invention, are illustrated. In this drawing,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a clothes locker embodying my invention;

.Fig.'2"is an enlarged fragment of Fig. 1 with certain parts broken awayto show details of the latching mechanism, the latter being shown, inthis figure, in the latching position;

' Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but showing the latch in thereleased position;

Fig.4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

. F;ig.-;5 ;isa fragmentary elevation of the door jamb, as seen from theline 5-5 of Fig. 4;

6- is an enlarged section onthe lineB-G E v ,Fig. '7 is a view similarto Fig. -2 but showing a. modification of the latch mechanism;

. Fig. 8 is an enlarged section on the line, 88 of Fig. 1-; 1 V

'9 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 4 but -illustratinganother form of latchmechanism which is shown in the latching position; l

Fig, 10 is asection on the line l0-l-0of Fig. 9;. Fig. 11 isa verticalsection on the line ll-H 0 Ei Iota/11d Fig. 12 is a section on the line:|2-|-2 of Fig. 11. Referring to the drawing, in which similarreference-numerals designate the same parts in the different views, 20indicates a clotheslocker having, a door 2| hinged to the front thereof,as indicated at 22. The locker is preferably made of sheet metal and theside wall of the locker, opposite to that carrying the hinges 22, isprovided with a door jamb 23 having a longitudinal 5 bend '24 at thedoor opening and which forms a flange comprising the inwardly extendingportion 25, the laterally extending portion 26, parallel with the frontof the casing, and the inwardly extending portion 21, the portions 26and 21 be- 10 ing thus arranged by forming the flange with the bends28and 29 which are parallel with the bend 24'. The edge of the door,which cooperates with the jamb, is of steppedformation, complementary tothe .jamb to provide the portion 30 that is adapted to engage with theportion 26' of the jamb and thus form a stop for the door. At the innersurface of the :door the edge wall has a flange 3| extending parallelwith the portion 30 and forming a channel in which the bar 32 islongitudinally slidable. The bar 32 is made from sheet metaland'isofchannel form, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6.

. Near the upper and lower ends of the door jamb and adjacent the middlethereof, openings 33 are formed in the portion 2'! 'to receive the 25latch members which will be described later (see Fig. 5').

In Figs. 2 and 3, one of the latching devices is illustrated and it willbe seen that this comprises a -swinging member 34 which is hinged at 35to a part '36'that is welded or otherwise secured in the channeled edgeof the door. A leaf spring 31-is riveted-or otherwise secured in thechannelled' edge of the door, as indicated at 38, and the upper end ofthis leaf spring bears on the Q latch member 34. The latch member has aprojectien 39 that extends through an opening 40 in the edge of the doorand into an opening 33 in the=portion-21 of the -jamb. The projection 39isbevell'ed on one edge, as indicated at 4 I, so that, when the door isbeing'closed, the latch member 34 will lie-forced back to the positionshown in by'the engagement of the bevelled surface 4 with the corner 29'of the jamb.

While I have illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 the details of one of thelatch devices, it will be understood that three of these will be usedalong the edge of the door, as previously stated, one near the top, onenear the bottom, and one near the middle. 50

The bar 32 extends substantially the full length of the door and,adjacent each 01 the latch members 34, is provided with a cam member 42which is welded or otherwise secured to the latch bar and has anupwardly projecting finger v thereby withdrawing the projection 39 fromthe" opening 33 and permitting the door to be opened.

It will be understood that all of the cam members 42 cooperate with thelatch members 34, simultaneously, when the bar 32 is lifted. When thebar 32 is released it will drop from the position shown in Fig. 3 to itsformer position and the springs 3'! will return the latch members 34 tothe position shown in Fig. 2.

The handle 44 is provided with lugs 45 at its opposite ends whichproject through slots 46 in the door and openings in the flange 41 onthe bar 32. The lugs 45 fit the openings in the flange 4'! and aresecured to the bar 32 by screws 48.

In order to lock the door, when closed, I provide means for preventingthe bar 32 from being lifted to withdraw the projections 39 from theopenings 33. In Fig. 6, I have shown a lock 49 that is secured on theinner side of the door and provided with a bolt 50 which may beprojectedinto an opening 5| in the bar 32 by means of a key 52. With the parts inthis position the bar 32 cannot be lifted by means of the handle 44 andthe door will thus be locked. Another form of locking means is shown inFig. 8, in which a dog 53 is mounted on a pivot 54 on the bar 32 and isadapted to be projected through the slot 55 in the flange 41 and theslot 56 in the front wall of the door, by the spring 51'. The dog 53 isprovided with an opening 58 which, when the dog is in the position shownin Fig. 8, is adapted to receive the shackle of a padlock and this willprevent the dog 53 from swinging inwardly, as would be necessary inorder to permit the bar 32 to be lifted. Either of the locking meansjust described may be used with the construction illustrated, and fromFigs. 4 and 6, it will be apparent that when the door is locked theconstruction of the jamb and the edge of the door and the position ofthe projection 39 is such that it would be very diflicult to unlatch thedoor by a wire or other tool, such as is commonly' used in jimmying thelock mechanism.

From Fig. 2 it will be apparent that, with the bar 32 in its normalposition, the door may be closed and the latch members 34 will functionautomatically even though the bar 32 is locked in its lower position,because the latch members 34 are free to swing to the position shown inFig. 3, without lifting the bar 32. This is of advantage because, whenthe door has been unlocked and opened, the bar 3 2 may be locked in itslower position and the door left open so that, when the door is closed,it will then automatically latch.

The form of the invention illustrated in Fig. 7 is similar to thatpreviously described except that the latch member 59 is not pivoted to amember, such as 36, but is provided with a toe 60 that fits between theflanges of the bar 32 to prevent the latch member from being twisted outof its position by the engagement of the projection 6| with the corner29 when the door is closed. The spring 52 is similar to the spring 31except that it has a bent portion 63 at its upper end which engages aslot 64 in the latch member and thereby holds the latter againstvertical displacement. This form of latch member will functionsubstantially the same as previously described.

In the form of the invention illustrated in Figs. 9-12, the door jamband the edge of the door, as well as the bar 32, are constructed thesame as previously described, with the exception that the jamb has aflange 65 that is parallel with the flange 3| on the door adjacentthereto, as will be seen from Fig. 10. In this construction the latchmember 66 is mounted at one end on a pivot 61 that is secured in theposition 26 of the door jamb. The latch member 66 has a projection 68that extends through a slot 69' in the portion 21 of the door jamb, andit will be noted that the flange 65 acts as a guard for the projection68 so as to prevent clothing from catching on the latter when being putinto or taken out of the locker. A spring 10, similar to the spring 31,normally holds the latch member 66 in the position shown in Fig..11. Inthis constructionthe flange 3|, on the door, is provided with a slot Hopposite the projection 68 on the latch member so that when the door isopened and closed the projection 68 is moved through this slot. Theflange 12 on the bar 32 is notched, as shown at 13, this notch beingpositioned below the slot II when the bar 32 is in its lower position,so that the flange 72, on the bar 32, will be engaged by the projection68, when the parts are in the position shown in Figs. 9 and 11, and thuslatch the door. By lifting the bar 32, as previously described, thenotch 13 will be brought into registration with the slot 1| and the doormay then be opened.

It will be noted that the projection .68 is provided with a bevellededge 14 so that the latch member 66 will be automatically retracted whenthe door is closed.

As in the previously described constructions, there will be, preferably,three of the latch mechanisms illustrated in Figs. 912 spaced along theedge of the door, and these mechanisms will function to latch the doorwithout the necessity for lifting the bar 32.

While I have illustrated and described what I now consider to be thepreferred forms of my invention, it will be understood that changes maybe made in the details of the construction that have been illustratedand described, without departing from the spirit of the invention asdefined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: g

1. In a casing having a sheet metal door and jamb, the combination of ajamb edge pro vided with a longitudinal bend forming an inwardlyprojecting flange, said flange being provided with two bends parallelwith the firstmentioned bend one of which forms a portion extendingparallel with the plane of the door when closed and which acts as a stopfor the door, the other of said bends providing a portion which projectsfrom the first-mentioned portion into said casing, a door edge ofchannel form and provided with portions that are parallel with andcomplementary to the said portions of said flange, a channel barslidable in the channelled edge of the door, said second-mentionedportion of said flange having openings therein to receive latchmembers,a plurality of latch members mounted for oscillatory movement in thechannelled edge of the door and each having a projection to enter one ofsaid openings to retain the door in closed position, and said barserving as a cover for said latch members and having cam members thereonwhich extend toward the edge of the door and cooperate with said latchmembers to withdraw'said projections from said openings and therebyunlatch the door by a longitudinal movement of said bar.

2. In a casing having a sheet metal door and jamb, the combination of ajamb edge provided with a longitudinal bend forming an inwardlyprojecting flange, said flange being provided with two bends parallelwith the first-mentioned bend one of which forms a portion extendingparallel with the plane of the door when closed and which acts as a stopfor the door, the other of said bends providing a portion which projectsfrom the first mentioned portion into said casing, a door edge ofchannel form and provided with portions that are paralle1 with andcomplementary to the said portions of said flange, a channel barslidable in the channelled edge of the door, said second-mentionedportion of said flange having openings therein to receive latch members,a plurality of latch members mounted for oscillatory movement in thechannelled edge of the door and each having a projection to enter one ofsaid openings to retain the door in closed position, said bar serving asa cover for said latch members and having cam members thereon whichextend toward the edge of the door and cooperate with said latch membersto withdraw said projections from said openings and thereby unlatch thedoor by a longitudinal movement of said bar, and locking means forsecuring said bar against movement.

3. In a casing having a sheet metal door and jamb, the combination of ajamb provided with a longitudinal bend forming an'inwardly projectingflange, said flange being provided with two bends parallel with thefirst-mentioned bend one of which forms a portion extending parallelwith thejplane of the door when closed and which acts as a stop for thedoor, the other of said bends providing a portion which projects fromthe first-mentioned portion into said cas ing,ra door edge of channelform and provided with portions that are parallel with andcomplementaryto the said portions of said flange, a channel bar slidable in thechannelled edge of the door, said second-mentioned portion of saidflange having openings therein to receive latch members, a plurality oflatch members pivotally mounted in the channelled edge of the door andeach having a projection to enter one of said openings to retain thedoor in closed position, and said bar serving as a cover for said latchmembers and having cam members thereon which extend toward the edge ofthe door and cooperate with said latch members to withdraw saidprojections from said openings and thereby unlatch the door by alongitudinal movement of said bar, and springs cooperating with saidlatch members to normally and yieldingly hold them in the position inwhich said projections are adapted to engage said openings.

I JOSEPH F. SCI-IAEFER.

